The Role of the Unions Part 11: Mac Intosh to IDN

At least the sharp difference in our view of unions in the present epoch is now clear. For you, Will, the unions can seek the best deal for workers, "cut into the prerogatives of the bosses," i.e. capital, and are contradictory in nature. For me, the unions are an integral part of the apparatus of capital, an organ of the class enemy. That position, however, is not based on any axioms or apriori dogma, but on an analysis of the historical trajectory of capitalism, and the lived experience of the working class in the present epoch. And we do, indeed, agree that this discussion should be expanded beyond the two of us, in which case that historical analysis and its conclusions with respect to unions, can be explored. Finally your union card, the price of holding one's job in many industries, does not sully you or any other worker. Our disagrement is about the political practice of revolutionaries.